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Defence Minister should pay attention

Tuesday 3 July 2012, 6:29PM

By Labour Party

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Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman has revealed just how out of the loop he is in the international defence community after discovering that the New Zealand Navy was banned from docking at a US naval port through a local newspaper.

“This is an embarrassing admission from the Minister who was not even aware whether the New Zealand Defence Force was informed of the situation,” says Labour’s Defence spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway.

New Zealand’s frigate Te Kaha and tanker Endeavour, both taking part in the Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), must berth at the tourist section of the port in Honolulu, not within the actual harbour itself.

“The Minister should pay closer attention to his portfolio. Using the excuse of negotiating the more ‘high-level’ Washington Declaration as reason for the lapse fools no one.

“The Prime Minister now appears to be covering for him by saying the Government knew all along that our Navy ships would be barred from Pearl Harbour. That just makes the situation worse for Jonathan Coleman. If the Prime Minister knew, why didn’t he?

“In Jonathan Coleman’s time as Minister of Defence, military morale has fallen to its lowest level ever, personnel are lining up to leave and now he has proven he doesn’t even know the simplest of details about his portfolio.

“If Jonathan Coleman had been doing his job properly, he could have been up front about this before Te Kaha and Endeavour departed for RIMPAC. Instead his incompetence has become a distraction from the improvements made to the New Zealand-US relationship over the last ten years,” Iain Lees-Galloway said.